Lib Dem voters should support Labour to keep out Cameron, says Transport Secretary

Lib Dem supporters in marginal seats should support Labour to avoid the Conservatives winning power, a Cabinet minister suggested today.

Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, urged Lib Dem voters in regions where their candidate is unlikely to win to think tactically and back the Government.

He insisted the Lib Dems have no chance of seizing power and warned leader Nick Clegg he could destroy his own party if he entered an alliance with the Tories if there is a hung parliament.

Gordon Brown backed his call this afternoon, insisting that the only real choice for government is Labour or the Tories.

On the road: Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg on the party's battle bus in Cardiff today

'The choice is between a Labour
government and a Conservative government. You're not going to end up
with one of the minor parties running the government - no matter how
keen you are to see their interests represented and no matter how
interesting some of their policies may be,' he said.

'I want everyone to vote Labour and
I want everyone to vote for our party and I want our number of seats to
be the highest. But if people don't want a Conservative government then
they must make sure they don't let the Conservatives in.'

But the Lib Dems poured scorn on the
entreaty, insisting that Labour had failed and that only they could
bring 'real reform' to Britain.

Mr Clegg said they are a 'desperate
attempt to muddy the waters'. 'People should vote with their hearts,
they should vote for what they believe in,' he said.

Frontbencher Ed Davey said: 'Whether
it's on fair votes or stopping dirty money in politics, Labour has just
not delivered, often working hand-in-hand with the Conservatives to
stop the change Liberal Democrats are fighting for.

'This real dividing line at this election is between the Liberal Democrats and the cosy Labservative consensus.

'From
their support for over-reliance on banking to the illegal war in Iraq,
from backing unfair taxes to stopping political reform, Labour and the
Conservatives have conspired against the real change Britain needs.'

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The comments from the Labour camp lay bare their fears that the election will end in a hung parliament.

Low profile: Nick Clegg's wife Miriam leaving their home in Putney, south west London, this morning

Writing in The Independent, Lord Adonis
insisted it is 'nonsense' for Mr Clegg to pretend his party is on the
same level as Labour and the Tories.

'To
avoid
a Tory government after May 6, it is vital to grasp now the
fundamental Labour-Lib Dem identity of interest. This can best be
served by Labour coming out of the election as strong as possible, able
to form a government,' he said.

'In
Labour-Tory marginals, a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote which helps
the Tories against progressive policies. And in
Labour-Lib Dem marginals every Labour MP returned is a seat in the
Commons more likely to put Labour ahead of the Tories and therefore
better placed to form a government.'

He claimed supporting the Tories in a hung parliament would have catastrophic consequences for Mr Clegg's party.

'Outside wartime, the official Liberal party has never supported a Tory government," the peer wrote. Lloyd
George's decision to govern with the Tories after 1918 - even with the
plea of a post-war national emergency - split his party, destroyed his
own political authority, and led directly to Labour replacing the
Liberals as the major party of the left within five years,' he said.

'A
similar fate would inevitably befall Nick Clegg were he ever to copy
Lloyd George, as the briefest visit to a Lib Dem conference testifies.'

The Lib Dems today outlined a 'manifesto for consumers', pledging to stop banks charging excessive penalties for customers who exceed their overdraft limit or bounce a cheque.

They would also limit
charges for bouncing a cheque and cap the interest rates on credit
cards.

Mr Clegg, in Wales this morning before heading to Birmingham and Leeds, said banks should not be able to 'profiteer' from small mistakes.

He insisted in Cardiff that he would take on the 'vested interests' of the business world to redress the 'raw deal' handed to consumers.

The leader, on GMTV this morning, insisted his party would deliver fairness and had shown it had the right judgment by being the first to warn about the banking crisis.

He tried to play down anxiety about what would happen in case of a hung parliament and whether his Treasury spokesman Vince Cable could become Chancellor in a coalition government.

'I don't think Vince is going to be in
the sort of Carlos Tevez school of transfers from one team to another.
We work as a team, the Liberal Democrats work as a team. I'm very
proud, as the captain of the Liberal Democrat team - a bit like the
captain of a cricket team - that in Vince Cable we have the best
batsman around,' he said.

Manchester City footballer Tevez left the club to join arch-rivals Manchester United.

Mr Clegg insisted he did not have a problem with Mr Cable's profile being higher than his own.

'I'm absolutely delighted that my close friend and colleague Vince Cable is, if you compare him to Alistair Darling and George Osborne, is by far the most trusted and authoritative. If you want Vince Cable in No 11, vote for the Liberal Democrats,' he said.

The leader kept up his criticism of Tory tax policy, branded it a 'huge shopping list of tax bribes' and claiming they are dissembling on the figures.

He dodged calling Mr Cameron a liar but said: 'The Conservatives aren't being straight with people about how on Earth they are going to pay for it. I think both Labour and the Conservatives in this debate are presenting us with a debate about tax which is "buy now, pay later".

'The question in politics is not whether you dislike taxes - we all dislike taxes - it's how do you pay to keep taxes down?'